Voice input is used in the operating room environment for tasks such as voice annotation, communication (e.g., telephone, video conference, etc.) and voice control. Some voice controlled systems include one or more command microphones worn by surgeons or other surgical staff, and connected to the surgical system via wire. Wired command microphones, requiring that the user be tethered to the surgical system, have drawbacks including restricting the surgeons' freedom of movement within the operating room (“OR”).
Wireless command microphones allow surgeons to freely move about the OR. However, the use of a wireless command microphone raises safety concerns. For example, wireless command microphones allow a user the freedom to walk out of the OR and even into another OR without removing the command microphone. Thus, a surgeon may issue voice commands without realizing that he/she is controlling equipment in a different OR. Interference/cross-talk with other wireless communications systems may arise, and the radio link can be lost or broken. Finally, the battery on a wireless command microphone transmitter can run out.
There is a need in the art to address the problem of the user inadvertently issuing voice commands without realizing that he/she will be controlling equipment in a different OR. This problem is potentially dangerous for both the patient and surgical team (e.g., a surgical table starts moving inadvertently while a patient is being placed on it). There is also a need to detect and warn users when a wireless command microphone loses its data link or battery power to ensure that all intended voice commands are received and implemented.
Some systems are known to discontinue data communications when certain devices are no longer co-located in a particular room (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,260 to Rodman et al.), however these prior art systems are not adapted for voice controlled surgical systems and do not warn users when a device is no longer co-located and do not address malfunctions such as a lost communication link or dead battery. Thus, there is a desire in the art to detect and inform the user and/or other staff via open room audible alarm and/or graphical representation, of any microphone malfunction (e.g., out of range, lost communication link, or dead battery), so that the user and/or OR staff, will not waste time trying to issue voice commands—for example in an emergency situation—and instead control the device(s) directly through their control panel or other available means.